Toad's Wild Ride
"Toad's Wild Ride" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the FX original series Sons of Anarchy, and the series' sixtieth episode overall. Summary As Jax and the club begin to connect the dots on the series of home invasions, the Nomads scramble to get out of Charming before they are found out. Meanwhile, Jax is forced to clean up one of his mother's messes. Clay uses Juice and Unser to tie up some loose ends. Jax's trust in Pope is even more strained when two black gang members attack him and Chibs. Tara gives Gemma one more chance to be in her children's lives, which ends in tragedy. Plot Jax and Bobby ride. Clay meets with the patched-in Nomad members, Greg (Kurt Yaeger), Gogo (Chris Browning) and Frankie Diamonds (Chuck Zito), and tries to figure out what to do about Rita Roosevelt's murder. Clay promised them a cut of his profits if they got him back at the head of the table. He thinks they have to leave town for awhile. Gemma wakes up next to her one-night stand. She goes to the bathroom and sobs. Tara looks over Otto Delaney's files. Abel sleeps next to her, clutching his Mr. Toad doll. Jax and Bobby find Unser camped out at Unser's scrap yard. He sold his land to the county to pay for his medical bills. He's providing security. Jax asks what Unser has on the home invasions. He has a cork board of suspects and info on the case inside. Jax wants to know who Unser is looking at within the club. Unser points out the burglars barely took anything, just beat people up to send a message. He's sure it wasn't black who jumped him. "Who has something to gain by making the club look weak? Turning the town and the sheriffs against them? Suddenly the pretty guy they gave the gavel to, he don't look that smart," Unser says. He rhetorically asks who's new. The Nomads. Jax suggests Unser pay them a visit and feel them out, he'll deal with Clay. Gemma comes out of the bathroom and finds her purse emptied out. Her wallet and keys are gone. She comes outside and sees her bed buddy driving off in her Escalade. At the garage, Jax sees Frankie Diamonds packing up his custom bike for a bike show up north. Jax says it's a good time to split, Charming's been messy since they showed up. Jax tells Frankie to stay in touch, he's close to figuring out who's behind the attacks. His veiled threat is clear. Unser goes to introduce himself to Greg, working on his bike. Greg's face is banged up and Gogo has deep scratches in his neck. They are in a hurry to get rid of him and don't appreciate his questions. Jax visits the remodeled Elk Lodge. Nero and Lyla (Winter Ave Zoli) are getting along great. Nero tells Jax he heard from Gemma who is in some sort of distress. Nero, Jax and the guys roll up to Gemma at the seedy motel. She's upset to see them, she only called Nero. Jax assesses the situation and gives his mom a withering glare. "Who are you?" he asks. Nero gently reminds him she's still his mother. "She's caught between a husband she hates and a kid she thinks hates her. Women like your moms they don't do so good without family. Go easy," he counsels. Nero gets a call. His guys found the Escalade and the guy who stole it. Clay surprises Tara going through old club files on Otto. She ignores him. "We're going to have to say something to each other sooner or later," he says. "No we won't," she says. "Jax should have killed me, I'm living on borrowed time," he says. "You're not on borrowed time. To me you're already dead. Stay away," she says. Waiting in the hall, Juice hears. He asks Clay what he did to her. "Same thing I always do," he says. Juice tells him Greg the Peg called and it sounded important. Nero, Jax and the guys report to a chop shop. They learn Gemma's one nighter, Warren, is part of a crew that scams older women and steals their cars. They see him (Joel McHale) and he flees. He gets in a stripped down BMW and drives off. The guys hop on their bikes and chase him. Nero follows with his guys in his truck. Warren makes it out of the neighborhood but runs into a cul de sac, takes out a gun and starts firing as he runs. Jax tackles him down a hillside and wants to beat the crap out of him. Nero points out they're next to a busy street. Instead, they take the contents of his pockets: some weed and cash. He protests that it's $3,000, then assesses them and decides that fair. "So, we'll just call it even?" he suggests. "No, we won't," Nero says, pointedly, as they walk away. Greg rides up to the garage where Clay tells him Unser and Jax are on to them. He says Frankie and Gogo are talking about killing Unser. Clay decides it's a good idea and makes plans for them to meet up at Unser's trailer later. Clay will clear it for guns first and they'll come in wearing masks and kill him. Tara asks Bobby for something to bring to Otto, he suggests asking Gemma for something on Luanne. Since they won't let her bring Luanne's porno tapes in, Gemma suggests a perfume Otto always had her wear. Jax returns with Gemma's car. Jax and Tara make plans to meet back at the garage later to leave for the cabin. Jax checks on his mom. She apologizes for embarrassing him. He assures her things with Tara will get worked out. He asks what's going on with her. Gemma tells Jax that after his brother died, she poured all her love into him. She apologizes for being too much. He tells her he felt bad when his brother died, because it meant he'd have her to himself. He promises her they'll get through this. Juice drops Clay off at Unser's trailer. Clay tells him to be sure to call. Clay asks if he can come in. Unser lets him in with a shotgun leveled at him. Clay sees his suspects board with SAMCRO on it. Clay takes his gun out of the small of his back, puts it aside and sits down to talk. Juice sits outside the yard and calls Clay when the Nomads are arriving. Clay tells him to leave. Inside the trailer, Clay tells Unser he was right about it being an inside job.Following Juice's call he checks that Unser's shotgun is loaded. After a minute, two masked men bust into the trailer. Unser fires first, killing one. Then Clay grabs his gun and shoots the other. They pull back the masks... Greg and Gogo are dead. Clay tells him he looked into them after they talked in the hospital. Unser reloads his shotgun, pointing out they're not smart enough to plan it on their own. He tells Clay he should leave, he'll deal with the sheriff. He shoots already dead Greg in the chest with his shotgun, planning to explain Greg's 9mm from Clay by saying the intruder kept coming after Wayne shot him. "Watch your back, Wayne, there's still one of them out there," Clay says as he leaves. "Yeah, I'm watching," Unser says as he watches Clay leave. At the club, Bobby tells Jax about Unser spotting the scratches on Gogo. As they make plans to look into it, Gemma and the guys come in to break the news about Greg and Gogo. Juice puts things together. Jax explains Unser was looking into the home invasions. They want to find Frankie to get the truth. Gemma visits Unser at the yard. Frankie watches the police from across the street and drives off. Gemma and Unser have a smoke of his prescription weed. He starts to apologize for what he said to her at the hospital, but she says it was the truth -- but don't do it again. Tara shows up at the garage to go away with Jax. Bobby thinks it's good he gets away. Tara tells him their babysitter bailed. He suggests Gemma look after them and she says ok. She plans to go up ahead of him and Jax asks Tig to keep her safe. Jax makes plans with Chibs and Bobby for them to come up tomorrow. But first Jax needs Chibs for an errand, to "check on a sick friend." Tara calls Gemma and asks her to babysit, saying she's trusting her to keep the boys safe. Gemma stubs out her joint and says yes. Nero and his guys corner car thief Warren escorting another older woman to a hotel room. She's told to scram. Nero beats the crap out of him. "Now we call it even," Nero says. Juice drops by Clay's to ask if he killed Greg and Gogo. He tells Juice they're working for someone else and Juice insists he tell the club. As bikes roll up outside, Clay says he thinks they already know. Chibs and Jax drop by. Jax talks to Clay alone, laying out that Clay is behind the home invasions. Clay insists it's Pope. Jax suggests they find Frankie and take it to the Club. "Let SAMCRO decide who lives and who dies," Jax says. (Closing music montage) Gemma tucks Abel and his stuffed toad and Thomas into the back seat of her Escalade. Clay looks through the things the Nomads stole from his safe. Tig guards the cabin as Tara gets ready inside. Chibs and Jax ride up to the cabin, when a van pulls up beside them. Someone fires an automatic weapon at them, spraying them with bullets. They ride off the edge of the hillside. They hide behind their bikes as whoever's in the van gets out and fires again. They're wearing masks. Chibs makes a run for it, drawing fire. Jax gets a clean shot at one of them and hits him multiple times. The other one gets back in the van and drives off. They take the mask off -- he's black. Driving the boys home, Gemma gets woozy and starts veering all over the road. She veers into on-coming traffic, a semi truck barrels at her. She swerves to avoid it and slams through the guard rail and down an embankment. The Escalade comes to a stop at the bottom, with Gemma knocked out and Thomas crying in his car seat as he looks at his brother Abel, who appears to be skewered on a tree limb. His stuffed Toad lies on the car floor, his blood spilling onto it. Church meetings (not technically a church meeting) Bobby: Unser spotted some gnarly scratches on GoGo's chest. Jax: Shit. Rita. Bobby: Gotta be why he and Greg the Peg are heading out of town. Just like Frankie. Jax: Let's call Quinn. We gotta find out everything we can about these Nomads. (Gemma, Chibs, Tig, Phil, Juice and Happy enter) Jax: What? Gemma: Unser just called. Greg and GoGo tried to kill him. He shot them both. They're dead. Jax: Jesus Christ. When? Chibs: Just happened. Jax: What about Frankie? Tig: Wasn't there. Gemma: Sheriff's on his way. Wayne sounded real bad. I'm gonna head over. Jax: Yeah, okay. Chibs: Why the hell would the Nomads try and kill Unser? Jax: Unser's been digging into these home invasions. He thinks they might be internal. Bobby: Maybe he was geting a little too close. Filthy Phil: You think the Nomads were the ones doing the attacks? Happy: That makes no sense. Bobby: It does if you're trying to compromise the club and bring a shit-load of heat to our front door. Chibs: The Nomads are on someone's payroll. Tig: Pope. Jax: I'm not sure. Bobby: There's still one more out there. Jax: We track down Frankie, maybe we get the truth. Tig: Alright. (everyone leaves) ---- Credits Main Cast * Charlie Hunnam as Jackson 'Jax' Teller * Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow * Mark Boone Junior as Bobby 'Elvis' Munson * Dayton Callie as Wayne Unser * Kim Coates as Alex 'Tig' Trager * Tommy Flanagan as Filip 'Chibs' Telford * Theo Rossi as Jean Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz * Maggie Siff as Tara Knowles * and Ron Perlman as Clarence 'Clay' Morrow Supporting Cast Special guest stars *Jimmy Smits as Neron 'Nero' Padilla Guest stars *David Labrava as Happy *Winter Ave Zoli as Lyla Winston *Chuck Zito as Frankie Diamonds *Joel McHale as Warren *Chris Browning as GoGo *Christopher Douglas Reed as Philip 'Filthy Phil' Russell *Kurt Yaeger as Greg the Peg *Rey Gallegos as Fiasco *Kurt Caceres as Renaldo Co-stars *Ray Haratian as Vargos Deaths * GoGo - Shot in the chest by Wayne Unser. * Greg the Peg - Shot in the head by Clay Morrow. * Charles Turner- Shot in the back by Jax. Featured Music * Soundgarden - "Been Away For Too Long" * Alison Mosshart - "The Passenger" (Iggy Pop) Category:Season 5 episodes Category:Season 5